Nutrition Therapy
The Benefits of Calories and Protein
- Calories from foods give your body energy.
- Eating enough calories will help you gain weight.
- Protein from food helps your body heal and grow strong.
Tips to get More Calories and Protein
Aim for at Least 6 Meals and Snacks Each Day
- Extra meals and snacks can help you get enough calories and protein.
- You may want to try supplement drinks.
- You can also enjoy snacks like milk shakes, smoothies, pudding, ice cream, or custard.
Eat More Fat
- Fat provides a lot of calories in just a few bites. A tablespoon of oil, butter, or margarine has about 100 calories.
- Fry foods in oil, margarine, or butter.
- Add butter, margarine, or oil to bread, potatoes, vegetables, and soups.
- Use mayonnaise, salad dressing, and peanut butter freely.
Choose High-Calorie Drinks
- Choose drinks like whole milk, juice, or soda pop made with sugar.
- Plain water, tea, and coffee have no calories. Choose them less often.
- Mix 1 cup whole milk with ? cup powdered milk. This mix tastes best when it is very cold. Try it with chocolate or strawberry syrup and sugar.
Fix Up Fruits and Vegetables
- Eat fruits and vegetables every day to be healthy.
- Most fruits and vegetables are low in calories and protein. Get more calories and protein by adding cheese sauce, butter, margarine, gravy, oil, or salad dressing.
- Potatoes and corn have more calories than nonstarchy vegetables like green beans, zucchini, carrots, and tomatoes.
- Enjoy chips with bean dip or guacamole. Cooked dried beans like pinto beans and kidney beans are good choices for protein. Avocados are high in calories.
- Choose fruits canned in syrup instead of water or juice.
Choose High-Protein Foods
- Enjoy milk, eggs, cheese, meat, fish, poultry, and beans. You may also try protein powders and meal replacement shakes and bars.
- Choose higher-fat meats. They have more calories than lean meats.
- Choose whole milk instead of low-fat or skim milk.
- Pick high-fat cheeses instead of low-fat or nonfat ones.
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